Teat cup assembly



March 14, 1987 D, NOQRLANDER 8,808,788

TEAT CUP ASSEMBLY 5 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Sept. 23, 1965 f, f f, f /H/f/I Ic Ila

/ /v/Av/ /f/ llc i? 7 INVENTOR.

DANIEL O. NOORLANDER ATTORNEY 14, i967 D. o. NOORLANDER TEAT CUPASSEMBLY 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 25, 1965 Ilo INVENTOR.

DANIEL O. NOORLANDER ATTORNEY 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 D. O. NOORLANDER TEAT CUPASSEMBLY March 14, 1967` Filed Sept. 25, 1965 March 14, 1967 D. o.NOORLANDER 3,808,788

TEAT CUP ASSEMBLY Filed Sept. 25, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 30e 30b 30f 30eINVENTOR.

DANIEL O. NOORLANDER BYWZQAWU ATTORNEY March 14, 1967 D. o. NOORLANDERTEAT CUP ASSEMBLY 5 Sheets-.Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 23, 1955 INVENTR.

DA NIE L O. NOORLANDER ATTORNEY 3,368,788 TEAT CUP ASSEMBLY Daniel (E.Noorlander, Madison, Wis., assigner to Be!- Mar ManufacturingCorporation, McFarland, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Filed Sept. 23,1965, Ser. No. 489,667 3 Ciaims. (Cl. 119-14.52)

This invention relates generally to milking machines and moreparticularly to improvements in teat cup assemblies for milking machinesfor providing improved milking and preventing mastitis.

Milking machines work on the principle of pressure differentials. Thatis, the pressure at the end of the teat of the cow is reduced so thatthe higher milk pressure in the teat cistern overcomes the resistance ofthe sphincter and allows the milk to flow therethrough. The milkingmachines are provided with a pulsating vacuum line and a vacuum milkingline for drawing milk from the teat. The pulsator causes air to passinto and out of the chamber between the shell of the teat cup assemblyand the flexible liner according to the phase of the pulsation. Vacuumis continuously applied inside liner of the teat cup assembly and, thus,to the end of the teat, but when the pulsator allows air to enter thechamber between the liner and the shell, the liner collapses below theend of the teat and, for a brief period, seals the end of the teat fromthe vacuum which is being continuously applied through the milking line.This is called the resting phase. During this phase blood is allowed toreturn to the upper portions of the teat after being drawn to the end ofthe teat by the vacuum applied through the milking line. When thepulsator causes the air in the chamber betwen the shell and the liner tobe pumped out, thus, substantially equalizing the pressure on the insideand the outside of the liner, the liner opens and milking resumes. Thisis called the milking phase.

If the liner does not collapse completely during the resting phase, ordoes not collapse for a sufficient duration, congestion and damage willoccur to the teat end because the vacuum will then be constantly appliedto the teat and there is in effect, little or no resting phase.

The liner may not collapse properly for several reasons, such as, if thepulsator does not permit enough air to enter the chamber between theliner and the shell, or if the pressure within the liner is notsufficiently reduced to permit the atmospheric pressure to collapse theliner. lf the bore of the liner is so large that the liner `tits tooloosely it will crawl up the teat and crowd the base of the udder, thus,allowing the teat to seat too deeply in the liner which will prevent theliner from collapsing below the teat. Furthermore, these large boreliners which crowd against the base of the udder cause a constrictionaround the top of the teat which further restricts the flow of milk fromthe udder through the top of the teat which is already anatomicallyrestricted by tissue thickening and the annular folds at the base of theudder. For this reason it is important that the teat cup assembly remainwell below the base of the udder. Smaller bore liners which t tighter onthe teat than larger bore liners have less tendency to crawl up the teatand crowd against the base of the udder.

One of the major causes of mastitis in cows arises when air or milkwhich is contaminated with bacteria, are allowed to back up into theteat cistern. This will happen if a negative pressure, that is, apress-ure less than atmospheric, is allowed to form in the teat cisternafter the end point of milking, or in other words, after all the milkhas been emptied from the udder. It has been recognized that if, at theend point of milking, air under atmospheric pressure is admitted intothe mouth portion United States Patent j3,368,783 Patented Mar. 14, i967of the liner and down the sides of the teat, the teat wall will becollapsed, thus, preventing contaminated air or milk from being drawninto the teat cistern by a vacuum in the cistern.

In the past, teat cup assemblies which have been designed to admit airinto the liner have proved unsuccessful in that it was found that theydropped off the teat when the teat wall collapsed at the end point ofmilking. The reason for the drop-off problem was that there was novacuum seal at the mouth portion of the liner, as had been provided inthe past, and therefore, when the teat wall collapsed and became smallerthan the bore of the liner air bypassed the teat and the liner droppedoff. In View of this, liners presently on the market have a ratherstili` mouth portion which forms an air-tight or vacuum seal with theteat to prevent the liner from dropping oli the teat. However, the useof these liners which do not allow air to enter the mouth of the liner,is a major cause of mastitis because the air-tight seal at the mouthportion prevents the teat from collapsing at the end point of milking asdiscussed above, The airtight sealing mouth portions of the known linersalso restrict the flow of blood in the teat tissue.

Accordingly, an object of my invention is to provide a new teat cupassembly which will permit the teat wall to collapse at the end point ofmilking so that a negative pressure will not build up inside the teatcistern and which will not drop oli the teat.

Another object of my invention is to provide a teat cup assembly whichprovides a vacuum seal on the teat wall during full milk ilow but whichallows the introduction of air under atmospheric pressure down the sidesof the teat wall at the end point of milking to collapse the teat wallfor preventing contaminated air or milk from being drawn up into theteat cistern and which provides mechanical means to prevent the teat cupassembly from dropping ofr` the teat at the end point of milking.

Another object of my invention is to provide a teat cup assembly havinga transparent plastic shell to permit visual inspection of the pulsatingliner during operation.

Another object of my invention is to provide a teat cup assembly havinga plastic shell which is weighted to prevent excessive crawl on theteat, to provide tensioning of the teat to open the annular folds at thebase of the udder to allow easy passage of milk from the udder into theteat cistern, and to cause the vacuum milking line to be closed bycausing it to fold over when the teat cup assembly is removed from theteat.

Another object of my invention is to provide a teat cup assembly havinga metal spring encircling the neck portion of the liner so thatsubstantially the same resiliency and diameter will be maintained in theneck portion of the liner for its full life for preventing teat-crawlwhich would otherwise take place as the liner loses its resiliency dueto fatigue and absorption of butte-rfat over a period of time.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a resilient disk forpreventing teat cup drop-oft which is separate from the body of theliner of the teat cup assembly so that dilerent materials having specialcharacteristics can be utilized for the disk and for the liner and tofacilitate the cleaning and inspection of the teat cup assembly.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a resilient diskfor preventing teat cup drop-olf which can be used in connection withstandard teat cup assemblies.

Other objects, features and advantages of my invention will be apparentfrom the following detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings yshowing several embodiments exemplifying theprinciples of my invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a top view of a preferred embodiment of my teat cup assembly.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1 showinga preferred form of my teat cup assembly.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional View showing the teat cup assembly of FIG. 2positioned on the teat of a vcow during the milking phase. A

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the teat cup assembly shown in FIG.2 positioned on the teat of a cow during the resting phase.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the teat cup assemlbly of FIG. 2positioned on the collapsed teat of a cow at the end point of milking.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a modified form of my teat cupassembly.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a modified form of a resilient disk formy teat cup assembly.

`FIG.`8 is a bottom view of the disk of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 9 9 of FIG. 7.

FIG. l0 is a plan view of another modified form of a resilient disk formy teat cup assembly.

FIG. l1 is a cross-sectional View taken along line 1i1-11-of FIG. l0.

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional View through a standard teat cup .linerwith the disk of FIG. l0 therein and positioned on the teat of a cowduring the milking phase.

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional View through a standard teat cup disk withthe disk of FIG. 10 therein and positioned 'on the collapsed teat of acow at the end point of milking.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings wherein like numeralsdesignate like parts throughout the several views, in FIGS. l and 2 mynew teat cup assembly is generally designated at 10 and has asubstantially rigid outer tubular shell 11 and a resilient linerV 12therein. 'Shell 11 has a threaded, open-topped head portion 11a at itsupper end and an aperture 11b at its bottom end through which the liner12 extends.. Adjacent aperture 11b is a port 11e which is adapted to be'connected to the pulsating vacuum line of a milking machine (not shown)for alternately subjecting the chamber between shell 11 and liner 12 tovacuum and air pressure during the milking operation.

Shell 11 is preferably made of clear plastic for allowing visualinspection of the pulsating liner during milking so that any malfunctionin the pulsating portion of the milking machine can be quicklyascertained.

Liner 12 has an enlarged mouth portion 12a and a neck portion 112b whichtapers downwardly into upper bodyv portion 12e` which in turn tapersdownwardly into a lower portion 12d which is adapted to be connected tothe vacuum milking line of a milking machine. The mouth portion I2aengages'the upper edge of the head portion 11a of shell 11 and the-upper edge of a metal ring 13 seated in head portion 11a.

The liner 12 may be made of soft, resilient material such as, forexample, natural gum rubber or poly-vinyl chloride. Poly-vinyl chloridehas the advantage lthat it has less tendency to absorb butterfat thannatural gum rubber. The absorption of butterfat over a period of timecauses natural gum rubber to stretch and lose some of its resiliency.

The ring 13 has a hole "13a therethrough which is somewhat larger thanthe upper body portion 12C of liner 12. The ring shown at 13 is made oflead and provides the weight necessary for the proper functioning of theteat cup assembly. The weight of the assembly lisvimporta'nt for severalreasons. Firstly, it helps to yprevent the assembly from crawling up theteat to a position where it crowds against the base of the udder of thecow. Secondly, the teat cup assembly should have sufiicient weight sothat when it is hung on the teat 17 of a cow as shown in FIG. 3, it willtension and stretch the teat in order to open the annular folds 19 'atthe base of the udder 18 to allow easy passage of milk from the udderinto the teat cistern 20. Thirdly, the teat cup assembly should haveenough weight so that when the assembly is removed from the teat afterthe end point of milking, the teat cup assembly will cause the milkingline of the milking machine to be folded overon itself to close olf theline so that air and foreign matter will not be sucked into it.

The weight of the lead ring 13 shown is about five and one-half ouncesand t-he totalweight of teat cup assembly lt is about twelve ounces;however, it is understood that the weight of the assembly may varysubstantially to accommodate use with various milking machines andfacilitate the milking of cows of .a variety of ages and sizes.

As seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, the size of hole 13a in ring 13 is such thatit will engage the -upper wall portion 12e of liner |12 when the teat ofa cow to be milked is inserted into the liner. The ring 13 prevents theupper wall portion 12C of the liner from expanding beyond the diameterof its maximum efficiency.

A helical metal spring 14 encircles the neck portion 12b of liner 12.Rubber liners tend to stretch lengthwise, expand in diameter and losesome of their resiliency due to absorption rof butterfat yand fatigueover a period of time. Thus, due to their expanded diameter, known teatcup assemblies that have been used for some period of time tend to crawlup the teat land crowd against the base of the udder. The metal spring14 insures that substantially the same bore diameter and resiliency will-be maintained in the neck portion of the liner. for its full workinglife.

A resilient disk 15 is positioned on the mouth portion 12a of liner 12.As best seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, disk 15 has a centrally located circularaperture 15a which is substantially smaller than the bore of liner i12.A plurality of slits 15b extend radially outward from aperture 15a. Theslits 15b form inwardly directed fingers 15C therebetween, for graspingthe teat wall as shown in FIGS. '3-5. The slits 15b also admit fairunder atmospheric pressure into the mouth portion 12a of liner 12. Asbestseen in FIG. 1, enlarged air inlets 15d are provided at the outerextremities of slits 15b.

An orifice 15e may be provided in disk 15 outwardly of the airi'nletsl15d to insure admittance of air into the mouth portion 12ay of liner 12when the teat cup assembly 10 is used on large teated cows.

A modified form of a disk is shown at 30 'in FIGS. `7-9. Disk Sil has acentrally located circular aperture Stia which is somewhat smaller thanthe teat of a cow. Aperture 30a is defined by upper and lower edgeportions 30ib and 30C, respectively. Upper edge portions 30h connect t0raised, substantially triangular portions 30d having lower channelsections Ste therebetween. Raised portions 36d have recessed pockets 3Mtherein.

When a teat cup assembly having disk 36 therein is hung on the teat of acow the disk 30 will be tiexed downwardly by the insertion of the teatin the same manner as disk 15. When flexed downwardly the upper edgeportions tlb grip the teat wall while the lower edge portions are pulledaway from the teat wall to admit air into the mouth of the liner throughchannel sections Stle. Y

Another modified form of a disk is shown Iat 40 in FIGS. 10413. Disk 40vis particularly well suited for use in conventional teat cup liners,such as 41 shown in FIGS. l2 and 13. Like disk 15, disk 40 has acentrally located circular aperture 40a which is substantially smallerthan the bore of liner 41 and it has a plurality of slits 40b extendingradially outward from aperture 40a. The

slits 4011 form inwardly directed lingers 40e therebetween. Slit's 4Gbmay have enlarged air inlets 46d at their outer ends. As best seen inFIGS. l and l1, disk 40 differs from disk 15 in that disk 40 has acircular, tapered inner portion 40e. Thus, at best seen in FIG. 11 thefingers 40C have a substantially thinner cross-section at their innerends than at their outer ends.

As illustrated in FIG. 12, when the disk 40 is placed in the standardliner 41 the disk rests on the top of neck portion 41a, whereas, in theteat cup assembly shown in FIG. 2, the disk 15 is positioned on top ofthe mouth portion 12a of liner 12. Whenthe full teat 42 of a cow to bemilked is inserted into the standard liner 41 with disk 40 therein, theinner portion of disk 40 is flexed downwardly iiush against the curvedneck portion 41a of the line'r 41.

Air will be admitted down the sides of the teat 42 through inlets 40dand slits 40b to collapse the teat at the end point of milking toprevent contamination of the teat cistern.

As inFlG. 13 the holding action of disk 40 when used in a standard linersuch as 41 is somewhat different than that of disk 15 and/30 in that thedownwardly flexed disk 40 restricts the neck portion of the linersomewhat and holds the liner on the collapsed teat at the in point ofmilking.

It is understood that disk 40 could be used in connection with the teatcup assemblies shown in FIGS. 2-6 in place of disks 15 and 30.

The disks 15, 30 and 40 are preferably made of polyvinyl chloride orneoprene which have the desired resiliency and which are highlyresistant to butterfat and, therefore, unlike natural gum rubber, willnot lose their resiliency due to absorption of butterfat. The disks 15,30 and 40 are all designed so that they may also be used in connectionwith standard teat cup assemblies.

In my novel teat cup assembly 10 a plastic cap 16 is threaded onto thehead portion 11a of shell 11. The cap 16 has a hole 16a therein tofacilitate the positioning of the teat cup assembly on the teat of acow.

FIGS. 3-5 show teat cup assembly 10 with disk 15 therein in three phasesof operation on the teat 17 of a cow. The teat 17 depends from the udder18 of a cow as shown. There are annular folds 19 at the base of theudder 18 through which the milk passes into the teat cistern 20 which isconstricted at its lower end by the sphincter 21. It should be notedthat for proper milking, the teat cup assembly is positioned well belowthe base of the udder 18 so as not to constrict the annular folds 19 atthe base of the udder.

FIG. 3 shows the operation of teat cup assembly 10 during the milkingphase. During this phase, vacuum is continuously applied to the insideof liner 12 and, thus, to the end of the teat 17. The wall of liner 12forms a substantially air-tight seal with the teat wall. The pulsator ofthe milking machine applies vacuum in the chamber between the shell 11and liner 12 and substantially equalizes the negative pressures on theinside and outside of the liner 12. Thus, the liner 12 is open and thehigher milk pressure within the teat cistern 20 overcomes the resistanceof sphincter 21 and allows milk to ow therethrough into the milking lineof the milking machine.

FIG. 4 shows the operation of teat cup assembly 10 during the restingphase. During this phase, vacuum is still continuously applied throughthe vacuum milking line which is attached to the lower portion 12d ofliner 12 and the liner 12 still forms an air-tight seal with the teatwall. However, during this phase, the pulsator allows air to enter thechamber between the liner 12 and the shell 11 which causes the liner 12to collapse below the end of teat 17 to seal the end of the teat fromthe vacuum being continuously applied through the milking line. It willbe noted that during both the milking phase and the resting phase air isadmitted into the mouth portion 6 12a of liner 12 through slits 15b andinlets 15d in disk 15. The teat wall does not collapse however, due tothe milk pressure in the teat cistern.

The milking phase and the resting phase are alternated according to therate of pulsation of the milking machine until the end point of milking,that is, until the udder and teats have been emptied of their milk.

At the end point of milking, the teat wall collapses, as shown in FIG.5, due to the pressure differential resulting from the air underatmospheric pressure being admitted into the liner 12 through slits 15band air inlets 15d and the vacuum applied to the teat end by the vacuummilking line of the milking machine. The collapsing of the teat wallprevents a negative pressure or vacuum from building up in the teatcistern 2t) when the milk pressure drops. That is, the pressure insidethe teat is not allowed to drop below the pressure outside the teat sothat no contaminated air or milk can be pushed back up into the cistern20. It is apparent that a major cause of mastitis is thus eliminated byuse of my new teat cup assembly. It is further apparent that my teat cupassembly is prevented from dropping off the teat 17 at the end point ofmilking by the downwardly flexed lingers 15e of disk 15 even though thevacuum seal is broken between the liner 12 and the collapsed teat wall.

In the modified form of disk shown at 30 the upper edge portions 30bgrip the collapsed teat wall to prevent dropoff at the end point ofmilking.

FIG. 6 shows a modified form of a liner 22 for my teat cup assembly 1i).The liner 22 shown in FIG. 6 may be formed from a straight piece ofrubber tubing. A substantially rigid flanged ring 23 is inserted intothe top portion of the rubber tubing to provide an enlarged mouthportion 22a. The lower end of liner 22 extends through an aperture inshell 24 and is held in air-tight relation therewith by a plug 25 whichis inserted into the lower end of liner 22. The plug 25 may be insertedinto the vacuum milking line 26 of the milking machine. Liner 22 may besomewhat less expensive than the molded rubber liner 12 since it may beformed from a straight section of rubber tubing. The rest of the teatcup assembly shown in FIG. 6 is the same as teat cup assembly 10 shownin FIGS. 1-5 and the operation of the modified form of teat cup assemblyshown in FIG. 6 is identical to that of teat cup assembly 10.

It is understood that my invention is not confined to the particularconstruction or arrangement of parts herein illustrated and described,but embraces all such modified forms thereof as may come within thescope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A teat cup assembly for an automatic milking machine having a vacuummilk line and a pulsating vacuum line, said assembly comprising:

(a) a substantially rigid plastic shell having an upper head portion anda port adapted to be connected to the pulsating vacuum line of saidmilking machine,

(b) a resilient liner positioned in said shell, said liner being adaptedto receive the teat of a cow in the upper portion thereof and to haveits lower end connected to the vacuum milk line of said milking machine,

(c) a metal ring seated in the head portion of said shell for providingweight for the tensioning of said teat to facilitate milking, said metalring having a Xed diameter opening therein through which said linerextends and being of such a size that the ring acts as a positive stopfor limitingexpansion of said liner and prevents the coWs teat fromseating too deeply in said liner,

(d) a removable cap secured to the head portion of said shell, and

(e) a resilient disk positioned between said cap and said liner, saiddisk having a substantially centrally 7 located aperture for receivingsaid teat and having means for admitting air into the top of said linerat the end point of milking and for grasping said teat to prevent saidassembly from dropping off said teat.

2. A teat cup assembly for an automatic milking machine having a vacuummilk line and a pulsating vacuum line, said teat assembly comprising:

(a) a substantially rigid plastic shell having an upper head portion anda port adapted to be connected to the pulsating vacuum line of saidmilking machine,

(b) a resilient liner in said shell, said liner having an enlarged mouthportion and a tapered neck portion at its top end, said liner beingadapted to receive the teat of a cow in the upper portion thereof and tobe connected at its lower end to the vacuum milk line of said milkingmachine,

(c) a helical metal spring encircling the neck portion of said liner formaintaining proper tension in said neck portion,

(d) a metal ring seated in the head portion of said shell and encirclingsaid liner in the area vof said neck portion for providing weight forthe tensioning `of said teat to facilitate milking,

(e) a removable cap secured to the head portion of of said shell, and

(f) a resilient disk positioned between said cap and said liner, saiddisk having a substantially centrally 1ocated aperture for receivingsaid teat and having a plurality of upper edge portions dening a portionof said aperture for grasping said teat to prevent said assembly fromdropping olic of said teat, and a plurality of lower channel sectionsformed in the top of said disk between said upper edge portions andextending outwardly from said aperture, said upper edge portionsmaintaining said lower channel sec` tions from said teat for admittingair to the top of said liner at the end point of milking.

3. An improvement in a teat cup assembly'having a 8 A A substantiallyrigid shell having a port adapted to be connected to the pulsatingvacuum line of a milking machine, a resilient liner positioned in saidshell for receiving the teat of a cow in the upper portion thereof andbeing adapted to have its lower end connected to the vacuum milk line ofsaid milking machine, said improvement comprising:

(a) a resilient disk adapted to ybe positioned in the tOp portion ofsaid shell,

(b) said disk having a substantially centrally located aperture definedby a vcontinuous edge having alternating upper and lower portions forreceiving the teat of a cow,

(c) said upper edge portions engaging the wall of said teat to preventsaid teat cup assembly from dropping oli of said teat,

(d) said disk having a plurality of lower channel sections ormed in thetop of said disk between'said upper edge portions and extendingoutwardly from thelower edge portions of said central aperture, and

(e) said teat engaging upper edge portions maintaining said lower edgeportions from the teat Wall for admitting air through said lowerchannelsections into the top of said liner at the endpoint of milking.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Y Dinesen1`l9-14.49

SAMUEL KOREN, Primary Examiner.

HUGH R` CHAMBLEE, Examiner.

3. AN IMPROVEMENT IN A TEAT CUP ASSEMBLY HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY RIGIDSHELL HAVING A PORT ADAPTED TO BE CONNECTED TO THE PULSATING VACUUM LINEOF A MILKING MACHINE, A RESILIENT LINER POSITIONED IN SAID SHELL FORRECEIVING THE TEAT OF A COW IN THE UPPER PORTION THEREOF AND BEINGADAPTED TO HAVE ITS LOWER END CONNECTED TO THE VACUUM MILK LINE OF SAIDMILKING MACHINE, SAID IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING: (A) A RESILIENT DISKADAPTED TO BE POSITIONED IN THE TOP PORTION OF SAID SHELL, (B) SAID DISKHAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY CENTRALLY LOCATED APERTURE DEFINED BY ACONTINUOUS EDGE HAVING ALTERNATING UPPER AND LOWER PORTIONS FORRECEIVING THE TEAT OF A COW, (C) SAID UPPER EDGE PORTIONS ENGAGING THEWALL OF SAID TEAT TO PREVENT SAID TEAT CUP ASSEMBLY FROM DROPPING OFF OFSAID TEAT, (D) SAID DISK HAVING A PLURALITY OF LOWER CHANNEL SECTIONSFORMED IN THE TOP OF SAID DISK BETWEEN SAID UPPER EDGE PORTIONS ANDEXTENDING OUTWARDLY FROM THE LOWER EDGE PORTIONS OF SAID CENTRALAPERTURE, AND (E) SAID TEAT ENGAGING UPPER EDGE PORTIONS MAINTAININGSAID LOWER EDGE PORTIONS FROM THE TEAT WALL FOR ADMITTING AIR THROUGHSAID LOWER CHANNEL SECTIONS INTO THE TOP OF SAID LINER AT THE END POINTOF MILKING.